The Long Flight
by Makitk
Summary: Flying Thunder, a Lunar Pony Nightguard, goes on a quest to prove himself. His quest would take him flying across Equestria and back, meeting the strangest of Celestia's subjects as he goes along.
1. Chapter 1 - Barley Growing

"It will only be a few weeks, dear. Daddy will be back before you know it," he said in a warm voice, leaning in to peck a kiss on top of his filly's head, in-between the two tufted ears.

His mare squinted her slitted yellow eyes at him and snorted defiantly. She had not been in favor of the trip he was about to undertake, and took every opportunity to remind him that he was making it against her wishes.

"You know why I have to make this trip, Ice Shard," he sighed, turning towards her and giving her a soft nuzzle on her left cheek.

"To prove you're worthy of becoming the next captain of the Nightguard?" she bit at him. "Let me tell you something; you've already done plenty to prove your worth! Even IF Howling Wind were to run against you..."

Flying shook his head. "He isn't run..."

"Even if he was, I doubt he'd get the position. You know the council wants you!" his mare interrupted him. Then added "There's no need for this." in a softer tone.

Flying Thunder sighed and shook his head. "I need to prove to myself that I can handle the responsibility, Ice."

"Why?" she asked him for the millionth time since he first proposed it.

"Because it's something I think I can do," he responded. "And I won't ever know for sure unless I do it. If I make captain, what do you think will happen, dear?"

He reached a forehoof up to tousle his filly's mane as she was trying to understand the conversation her parents were having. "I won't have the time of night to take a trip like this. I'd need to make sure the Nightguards are prepared for Luna's return."

Ice Shard looked away, but he saw her give in a little. "Just make it home in one piece. I don't care about the egg."

Flying smiled and gave his mare a warm kiss on her lips, lingering a little while ignoring their filly's outcry of revulsion at her parents' open sign of affection.

"Eewwww... I will never get adults!"

Flying chuckled and moved a wing around Nightbreeze, pulling her against his side while breaking the kiss with his mare. He turned his head to look at her blushing face and nipped a kiss on her nose. "Now, will you pay attention in school while I'm gone, Nightbreeze?"

She nodded her head up and down, but he saw her starting to break before she closed her eyes and pushed up against his side, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Now, now.. I'll be back before you know it. Just be a good filly for your dam, ok?" Flying offered gently, giving a little squeeze with his wing and smiling as he saw Nightbreeze do her best to calm herself down. "That's my girl," he spoke proudly, slowly pulling his wing back and moving sideways away from her. Nightbreeze immediately trotted up to Ice Shard's side, seeking comfort with her dam.

Flying gave one last glance to them, whispered "I love you" to them both, and then turned for the door.

The egg, and his backpack, were resting on the table beside it, and he carefully fastened the latter to his back, the leather loops around his forelegs, before gently picking up the egg between his forehooves. He would not be able to carry it in his mouth, and he opted against wearing it in a saddlebag, leaving this as the only solution.

With a few flaps of his wings he was airborne and, once he was free from the confines of the house, he shot up into the night's sky with a slow turn for the South-West.

Equestria was waiting for him behind the mountain range that seperated Luna's Chosen from those living in Celestia's light, their dark peaks clearly visible in the light of the moon above. He would have to climb up into the air for several minutes, even if the plateau the city was on was halfway up the mountains already.

Carefully clutching the egg to his chest, his strong wing flaps made distance between him and his home. Between him and his mare and filly.

He never looked back. The fear that seeing his mare and filly standing outside their house would cause him to forego the plans he had been making, if he saw their pleading eyes calling him back home, prevented him.

This trip had been over two years in the making. Two years of plotting routes and sending letters far-away to make sleeping arrangements. Two years of begging and pleading with the council, Celestia's court, and his wife, to let him go through with this.

As he finally passed over the first peaks, he let out a breath he did not know he had been keeping in. A feeling of loss came over him and he struggled to keep going forward. Just looking at the dark lands below made him wonder if he really had made the right decision.

Mountain after mountain stretched for miles below him, their jagged peaks and awkward airflows enough of a hazard as it was, even without him holding an egg in his forehooves as well. But beyond the mountains would be the lowlands. The first signs of civilized ponies beside the society he came from the few farmers with their fields set against the hilly lands which would slowly turn to forests and the occasional city.

He sighed and used an updraft to fly a little higher still, the icy air at this altitude developing frosting on his muzzle.

"Just a few weeks. It's only for a few weeks. Two months and some change. Not that long. You'll see them again, Flying. Stop worrying," he chided himself, trying to reason away the growing pit in his stomach.

No matter how he tried, he could not shake off this feeling of doom as he flew through the night.

Flying landed in a field shortly before daybreak and carefully put the egg down in the long grass. He had to stretch his muscles a bit before he could approach the house farmer Barley Growing lived in. It would be his first of many homes he would be staying in during his trip.

Chancing to balance the egg between his chin and left forehoof, he gently knocked his other forehoof on the wooden door. There was no response. He tried again, a little louder this time, and was rewarded with the sound of somepony stumbling around inside.

"Yeah, yeah, hold yer stompin'. I heard ye fine th' first time!" a croaky old stallion's voice emitted from inside, and the stumbling sounds slowly made it closer to the entrance.

The sounds of some bolts sliding aside was heard, then the door opened a little to show a wrinkly face looking out in an annoyed manner. "Yeah? What do ye want, young'un?"

"I'm Flying Thunder, sir," Flying offered, nodding his head in respect to the older pony. "I come from the other side of the mountains to the East? We agreed upon me resting here this coming day?"

The stallion pushed his head out of the cottage and squinted his eyes at Flying, his breath smelling of yeast. "I don't know anyone buying sunders. I have enough sundries as it is! Don't need any more of 'em."

"Flying Thunder, sir. I'm a Lunar Pony?" Flying tried again, patiently waiting for the old stallion to remember while sitting down on his haunches, putting the egg down before him.

"A Lunar Pony?" the Earthpony farmer wondered, raising an eyebrow. "What'd ya say yer name was, young'un?"

"Flying Thunder, sir." Flying repeated again, daring a light smile. "We conversed through letters?"

The older stallion snorted at that, turning back into the room but pushing the door open further as he did. "That's allright then. Come on in. An older pony like meself can't be careful enough these days, can I?"

Flying carefully picked the egg up again and followed the stallion inside, noticing the grey sheen that had fallen over the pony's former yellow coat. His green mane and tail were even worse off than his coat, especially at the base of them where there was more grey than green.

The stallion dropped on a couch that looked as crooked and ancient as he himself, and reached for one of the open bottles laying around the house's floor. "Make yerself at home. Name's Barley Growin', but there's barely anythin' growin' in these fields anymore."

Flying nodded absentmindedly at Barley's words while looking around for a good spot to put the egg at. Noticing some pillows in a corner of the room, he quickly moved over there and put both his egg and his backpack down on it, using the latter as an extra support for the egg.

Farmer Growing burped loudly after having taken a good swig from his drink, then nodded towards a broken bed. The mattress was half supported by the beams that had not rotted away yet, and was half lying on the ground. "That'll be the bed we discussed, Scrying Flounder. Ten bits a day. Extra if ye want dinner wit' it."

Flying swallowed strongly as he looked at the decrepit bed, but dug up his coinpurse from the backpack regardless. "Deal's a deal," he muttered under his breath, picking up ten bits and dropping them on the table.

Barley's eyes grew to twice their size as he saw the coins, and he immediately roused from his seat to check to see if they were real by picking them up and biting on them in turn with his half-rotten teeth. "Well, I'll be. Yer a man of yer word! That's rare in these parts, ye know? Mostly we get bandits tryin' ta rip us off since Celestia's guards don't come here that often no more."

Flying nodded and made his way to the bed, looking it over from a closer angle. A flea jumped past him and he backed away quickly. "I'm not sure this is worth ten bits.. but we did have an agreement."

An embarrassed cough came from the farmer, and Flying turned back to him to see he split the pile of coins in piles of three and seven bits respectively.

"Take yer seven bits home with ye, young'un. I'd only said ten cause I expected ye to be an unscrupulous bastard like Flamin' Mane an' his gang. Yer welcome to stay the day. Three bits is plenty fer my drinkin' anyway."

Flying nodded to that, but still backed away from the bed. "I'll just grab a pillow and rest on the floor if it's all the same to you. The bed is.." he didn't finish his sentence as the bed behind him finally collapsed properly, the dust cloud it sent through the place wafting past his legs.

"Whoopie! Now I can finally use me mattress again!" the farmer exclaimed in excitement, and Flying just nodded to that.

"Right. I'll just be lying down here then," he muttered, trotting over and lying himself down on the floor beside the egg.

Apart from the sounds of farmer Barley stumbling about and clanking bottles together, Flying had a decent day's rest. When night fell however, he was quick to fly out the door with his egg and backpack in tow. The place had left him feeling dirty, and he was sure the smell of yeast that hung about the place had pulled in his own coat.

As he flew over the fields, he kept a look out for a body of water to wash himself in. It took him a little while to spot a shallow river coming down from the mountains, weaving its way between the hills and pausing at a small pool made in the hollow between a couple of them. While the river was flowing steadily past it, the pool itself seemed largely undisturbed, and Flying quickly flew down to land on its shore.

Considering the fleas he spotted in the cottage, he could not scrub himself hard enough with the brush he took from his backpack.

Standing immersed to his neck in the pool, with his head turning this way and that as he held the brush between his teeth, he cleaned his back, sides, under his wing joints, and eventually ducked his head under fully to scrub under himself, flakes of dirt from the farmer's house drifting past him back into the flow of the river.

He did not feel better until he was assured he had thoroughly cleaned every single part of his dark grey coat, including his dark blue mane and tail. Tossing the brush back toward the shore, he blinked his eyes open to see three Earthponies up on the nearby hill looking down at him.

The one in the center had a wild red mane with lighter streaks through it, and only his right eye was open. The left had a scar running across it. Patches of his coat were missing, with similar scars running across his features. Clearly this was the "Flaming Mane" that the farmer had spoken of.

On his left side was a smaller mare, her eyes holding a fury to them that Flying had only seen in Ice Shard's eyes when he had done something terribly wrong. He did not even know this pony and already she was ready to tear him to shreds, it looked like. She didn't look too bad, though. White coat, blue mane... If in any other situation, his eyes might have lingered on her for far too long.

The stallion on their leader's other side had a green coat with some blood running down his leg from a fresh cut on his left shoulder. More than that; he looked to have been in a fight real recently. His eyes looked bloodshot, his muzzle was thick as if he had incurred several heavy blows on it, and his right ear was missing its tip.

Flying carefully made his way to his belongings, closing up his backpack and swinging it over his still wet back. "I'll be gone in a moment, guys," he offered in as non-threatening a manner as he could.

"The only place ye'll be goin' is to yer grave!" the mare spat out, dashing forward but jerking to a stop and collapsing in a heap on the ground as the fire-maned stallion took her tail in his mouth and pulled her back.

"Calm yerself, Blizzard," the leader's deep voice grumbled. "Ain't no way ta greet a night stallion. 'specially not under his lady's gaze."

Flying looked up at the other stallion's only open eye and raised an eyebrow. "As I said; I was already leaving. I don't want to interfere in anything. As far as I'm concerned, we never met."

The leader shrugged at that and turned away. "If that's ta case, I take me hooves off of this. Do wit' him what ya will, Bliz."

Flying winced at the other's dismissive attitude and quickly scooped his egg up in his forehooves as he took flight, narrowly evading a headbutt from the mare jumping up at him and rising up in the air with the scoffed laughter of Flaming Mane in his ears.

With his heart thumping from the encounter, he searched for an updraft and used it to keep his wings at rest while still soaring upwards. If the rest of Equestria was this welcoming of strangers, this trip may prove to be more difficult than he had initially thought.

How come he had not heard of bandits in the North-Eastern farmlands? What else did his penpals 'forget' to mention? Was Celestia even aware that these things were going on in her realm?

Sure, his fellow Lunar Ponies were a rowdy bunch, especially after a few drinks, but the council made sure to send the Nightguard out to stop any actual crime once they heard of it.

Right?

But if an Alicorn like Celestia did not even have a hoof on this bunch, perhaps not all crime was gone from the Lunar Republic?

Food for thought, to be sure. Especially on the long nights ahead. The next stop was in a valley a few miles north of Hollow Shades. His contact had told him it would be easily spotted as the mountains made a bit of a U-shape and had train tracks running through them.

Flying looked down at the landscape below and spotted what could be a few mountains over in the South. He quickly turned for them and started to make some speed, wanting to get as much distance between him and the bandits from the farmfields as possible.

Sure, he could hold his own if needed. But not while keeping the egg safe at the same time. And getting the egg safely to the other edge of Equestria and back was his prime concern now. 


	2. Chapter 2 - Infinitely Loopy

It was a few hours flight, but Flying made it to the valley in one piece. His forelegs were aching from having had to carry the egg all the while, and he had to pee. Badly.

The valley did indeed have some train tracks looping through it, going in- and out of tunnels and over bridges which connected the holes in the mountains with one another.

He did not know where his contact's house was, but they had offered to light a blue light an hour before dawn as a beacon. Dawn would still be a little away, so he had plenty of time to do his business.

Flying decided to land under one of the stone bridges with their large arches, and gently placed the egg on a heap of stones beside one.

"Oof," he sighed out, biting on the skin along his forelegs to get the bloodflow going again and clopping his hooves together.

If he had not wanted to get away so badly, he could have landed in one or two spots along the way. Maybe three. It would have given him the time to get his legs and wings some rest.

He was feeling the muscles in them pull and flare up in agony as he made his way into a set of bushes to do his thing. Soon enough a trickle of gold made its way down the slope from the bush, steam wafting up from the warm liquid into the cool night air.

"Excuse me," a small voice from somewhere above him offered, and Flying had to stick his head out of the bushes to spot a light blue Unicorn with a pale white mane standing atop the bridge overhead.

Her red eyes were staring right down at him, and Flying felt his cheeks flush as he realized she was watching him do his business.

"Er.. One second. I'll be right with you!" he called out, disappearing a bit deeper into the bushes and trying desperately to hide what he was doing from the mare above.

"Don't bother. I was on my way down anyway," the youthful voice called out in an annoyed fashion.

Flying dared to look up, but the Unicorn had disappeared from where she had been standing and there was no sign of her anywhere!

Realizing that, for the moment, nopony was watching, Flying quickly finished his business and emerged from the bushes, hurrying up to where he left the egg.

If he could fly off with it before the mare managed to come down, he could at least save some face by her not knowing his name. This was just too embarrassing.

No sooner had he arrived at the egg or a blue glow enveloped it. Flying watched in horror as the egg moved through the air from its relative safe location, to end up floating in front of the blue Unicorn's face...

Flying had to do a double take. With the egg floating close to her, it was clear that the pony before him was not a mare, or she would have to be a really small mare. No, this looked more like a filly.

A filly who was scrutinizing his egg right now.

"Excuse me, I believe that's mine," he tried, reaching a hoof out for the egg.

The filly lowered the egg a little so she could look out over it, and snorted. "No it's not. This belongs to a family of phoenixes somewhere. Where did you steal it from?"

Flying blinked heavily at the accusation. "I.. you.. what? Now wait just a minute, young lady! I came flying all the way over here from the Lunar Republic, carrying that egg with me. An egg that I purchased from a reputable merchant, I may add. I did not 'steal' this from anywhere!"

The blue filly twitched an ear at that, her right eyebrow rising up. "If you didn't steal it, then what happened to your carrying bag?"

"Carrying bag?" Flying repeated, reaching up with his left forehoof to rub at his forehead. "Look, kid. I'm on a personal quest to take this egg to the San Palomino Desert and back, ok? I only stopped here because I had to..."

"I can see why you stopped," the filly cut in. "Do you always do your business in somepony else's backyard?"

Flying looked around himself in confusion. "Backyard? There isn't a house for miles!"

Another snort from the filly, and she turned her tail towards him, starting to walk over to a set of bushes not too far from where he had been hiding before.

Flying looked on in amazement as the filly, glowing blue horn and egg and all, disappeared behind them and then called out from behind it. "Well? Are you gonna come in or not?"

With growing confusion, Flying pushed his way through the bushes he had seen the filly disappear through, only to find a spacious cave seemingly hewn out of the rock face behind them.

It was large enough to allow him to fly through it with ease, even if he might need to dodge a stalagtite or two in the process, and the air felt colder in the sheltered space than it did even in the dead of night outside.

A small lake lay a bit deeper in the mountain, water dripping into it from the ceiling above, and somepone had built a sizable clay house near to it. It was to this house that the filly was walking - with his egg!

"Mom! Dad! Your visitor's here!" she called out ahead, and a white-coated Unicorn mare's head poked out of one of the windows of the building, her yellow mane a total mess.

"Visitor?" she wondered, then spotted Flying and quickly disappeared inside again. He heard her shout something unintelligble before she all-but galloped out to meet him halfway.

"There you are! Flying, isn't it? Can I call you Flying? Or should I say sir Thunder?" the mare rambled on, her horn bobbing up and down mere inches from his face while she stared at him with freakishly tiny eyes.

"Flying is fine, miss," he offered in return, backing up a little from the mare, who honestly looked like she was on some kind of drugs. "Er, I don't want to interrupt you, but your foal has stolen my egg?"

Her head snapped around to face her filly and her voice echoed through the cavern as she screamed out; "Silver Shade! Did you steal this stallion's egg?!"

'Silver Shade' ignored her mother and just disappeared into the building, the egg still tracking along with her.

"I'm really, really sorry. You know how foals are," the mare apologized, quickly turning tail to run after her filly, shouting her name again in the process.

Flying dared to perk his ears up again as she disappeared into the building as well, having flattened them against his head as the shouting began. "So that's why the kid was outside on the tracks..." he mused to himself.

An orange hoof placed itself on the ground to his right forehoof, and a low voice agreed with him. "Yep."

Flying turned his head to face the owner of the rogue hoof, and spotted a Unicorn with an orange coat, a pale white mane, and a broad white moustache. He magically lifted a pipe to his lips and took a few draws from it. "And this is why we live out here. Welcome to my humble abode."

The kid turned out to be some kind of nature freak. Always going out to make sure the local wildlife was not too damaged by the trains going by every so often.

Considering her mother's loud voice and psychotic nature, it was easy to see how the filly developed this behaviour. Just an hour inside the house was enough for Flying to want to get out of there again.

The clay house had a master bedroom, a bedroom for the filly, a storage room in which a makeshift bed was set up for Flying to use, a restroom, and a combination living room and kitchen. It was sparsely decorated with only the bare necessities needed to live comfortable in the grotto.

He first visited Silver Shade in her room to make sure the egg would be fine, and once again had to convince her that he had not stolen it. He eventually was allowed to take it back with him when he would leave, but not before he had promised to carry it in an old leather bag he could hang from his neck. Considering the pain he was still feeling in his stiff forelegs, he reluctantly agreed.

He found the mare in the kitchen, tossing food in a bowl, mixing it up, and then plucking it back apart again with her magic to put each different ingredient on its own plate. Flying did not want to know why she did that, and instead walked back out to find the stallion seated at the edge of the underground lake, smoking his pipe in thoughtful silence.

Flying walked up to him and sat down beside the stallion, looking out over the pristine surface of the lake. "So, your wife..." he started, but then found he didn't know how to continue.

"Yes," the stallion offered, but did not otherwise move.

Flying took a deep breath, then exhumed it again. What was he to say?

"You never asked why we're awake at night, Nightguard," the stallion beside him offered, blowing out a ring of smoke from his muzzle.

Flying turned his head to look at the man and frowned at himself. "That's true. I haven't. I guess I've been a little preoccupied with my egg."

The stallion nodded his head up and down in a slow manner. "Infinitely and I never have been much for proper sleep," he started. "What with her condition and my pondering, it's easy to forget how fast time passes."

"Infinitely?" Flying inquired.

"Infinitely Loopy. My mare," the stallion offered, turning his head sideways and offering a hoof. "I'm Silent Thought."

Flying pushed his own hoof up against the offered one, and they both shook their limbs up and down a moment before pulling them back. "Pleased to meet you, Silent."

"And then there's this cave. Not a lot of natural light makes it in here," Silent Thought continued as if there had been no interruption to his previous explanation. "We mostly go by the sound of the trains above to judge whether it's day or night. They come four times a day, but only twice each night."

Flying looked up at the ceiling of the cave, realizing it was still lower than the bridge just outside of it. "I see."

"They go all the way to Manehattan, turn around, and then go back to Canterlot again," Silent sighed, then drew from his pipe again. "Always going back and forth."

Flying stretched a few of his muscles a bit, not really sure what to say to that.

"It's better to settle where you feel at home, I think," Silent decided. "We don't have a bad life here. Plenty of rest. Get a trader around once a month for mail and other supplies, but are otherwise left to our own."

Flying smirked at that. "I had wondered why there was so much time between replies."

Silent shrugged. "If I'd been a bit younger, I'd delivered the mail to the Hollow Shades post office myself. But it's looking to be farther and farther away every day that passes."

Flying nodded. "I am headed that way tonight, you know? If you have anything I need to take with, I do have some spare room in my backpack."

Silent Thought frowned as he watched the surface of the water in front of him. "Maybe you can deliver a letter for me, Flying?"

"Sure! Whom to?" Flying immediately agreed, smiling warmly to the stallion beside him.

"Carrot Mash. Old friend of mine," came the reply. "Haven't seen him in a while."

"If you have his address, I'll do my best," Flying offered.

Silent looked sideways at the Nightguard beside him and nodded solemnly. "I'll write something up while you sleep. Thanks."

Flying shrugged at that. "Don't mention it. It's the least I can do."

"Dad! Breakfast's done!" Silver Shade called out from the house.

"Word to the wise; don't eat the brown things. They're probably clay pellets," Silent offered, tapping out his pipe on the ground before him.

Flying blinked at the warning but moved to follow behind the stallion as Silent got up to return to the house. "Good to know." 


End file.
